Spare Notes | Podcast on RSS.com

Spare Notes

by Jonah Evans

Music Interviews

Season 2

Portrait of the Artist: Blums on 'Sunk Cost Fantasy' & Resilience

Art begins before it’s created. This is Spare Notes. Curiosity, Relationships, Grief, Family, Hope—all these things are baked into the artist's brain before they play a single note, before they paint a single brushstroke or create something that is a passive or intentional expression of themselves. No artist's path of experience is the same as another. This segment is Portrait of the Artist, where the artist is interviewed about their path and about their art. In this episode Jonah talks to Kelsea Feder, also known as Blums. Her amazing debut album, Sunk Cost Fantasy is out on Take Care Records as of August 7th. It’s a collage, it’s theatrical, it’s a soundscape, it’s a pop record, and it’s a rush of complex emotions and experiences that are sonically explosive. Blums has an extensive background in theater and film, and she has a pop music influence—these show on the record. Jonah and Feder talk about her background, resilience, personal memory vs art, evolution as an artist, the stakes of relationships, and how Sunk Cost Fantasy came to be this emotive amalgamation of her experiences and reflections. Bandcamp: https://blums.bandcamp.com/album/sunk-cost-fantasy IG: https://www.instagram.com/blums____ linktree: https://linktr.ee/blums____ https://www.takecarerecs.com/ Episode Tracks: 1. "Still" 2. "Side of the Road." 3. "Celsius." 4. "Judy." 5. "Cashout." From Sunk Cost Fantasy. Intro Music: is "XXO" from the album Teeth by Magana: https://maganarama.bandcamp.com/album/teeth

Three Questions with Diego Ramirez (Joudy)

Art begins before it’s created. This is Spare Notes, hosted by Jonah Evans. In this segment, Three questions, Jonah asks the artists three questions. At least one question is about the artist's current project, and the other two are about ideas connected to their artistry overall. In this episode, Jonah talked to Diego Ramirez of Joudy. Joudy is a Brooklyn-based band, originally formed in their hometown of San Cristobal, Venezuela, in the mid 2010’s. Their new album, Permanent Maintenance, came out July 24th on Trash Casual Records. The band fled intense political climate from their home nation within the last decade and this current record mirrors our current political climate that banks on our constant burnout. There are parallels to what they lived through in Venezuela in the US now. Of Permanent Maintenance, Ramirez said it’s “about accepting that we’re never finished—that healing, love, resistance, and self discovery are all part of a lifelong process of becoming." In the interview, Ramirez and Jonah dive into this idea of permanent maintenance of the body and mind, what it’s like to live in survival mode and transition out of it as well. See you on the other side Web: https://joudyjoudyjoudy.com/ Bandcamp: https://joudyjoudyjoudy.bandcamp.com/album/permanent-maintenance IG: https://www.instagram.com/joudy.joudy.joudy/ Trash Causal Records: https://www.trashcasual.com/ (Cropped) Photo by Gabriel Duque: https://www.instagram.com/notduque Intro Music is "XXO" from the album Teeth by Magana: https://maganarama.bandcamp.com/album/teeth

SN: Mental Health in Music, Orphan Prodigy on Anxiety, Exposure Therapy, and 'Medication For a Modern World'

Spare Notes: Mental Health in Music. How does music help us process emotion? What does it mean to truly be seen? And what is the distance between who we are and who we think we need to be? These questions are prevelant in Orphan Prodigy's latest album, Medication for a Modern World and in this interview. It's a title that feels especially relevant today. We live in a world of constant stimulation, endless expectations, and a culture that often asks us to keep producing, keep performing, and keep moving. So what becomes our medication? Is it therapy? Music? Community? Exercise? Authenticity? Or is it learning to build a life that works with our minds instead of against them? For artists, these questions become even more personal. Creating meaningful work often means balancing creativity with survival, vulnerability with expectation, and finding ways to keep making art in a world that doesn't always make space for it. In this interview, Jonah Evans is joined by Ian Keller and Danielle Hope of Orphan Prodigy. What began as a conversation about music and mental health became something much larger. They talk about panic disorder, adoption, exposure therapy, authenticity, and what it means to stop chasing the version of yourself you think the world wants and start building a life around who you really are. Orphan Prodigy: https://orphanprodigy.com/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/orphanprodigy/ Photo by: Francisco Gallo Jonah Evans: https://jonahinthesnow.com/ Spare Notes Substack: https://sparenotes.substack.com/ Intro Music "XXO" from the album Teeth by Magana: https://maganarama.bandcamp.com/album/teeth

Portrait of the Artist: Nnux on 'Metomorfosis', Lived Experience, Mythologies, and Understanding Perspectives Through Transformation

Portrait of the Artist where we learn about the musician's journey, identity, maybe some of their aesthetic or obsessions. And of course, we talk about their latest project. In this episode, Jonah talked to Nnux (Ana E. López). She’s a “multidisciplinary artist, composer, and performer from Mexico, currently based between Mexico City and Berlin. Her practice weaves electronic and acoustic music, performance art, installation, and digital art, with a deep investment in symbolic languages, poetry, and storytelling. She explores how art can serve as a space for reflecting on our collective potential for personal and social transformation — and our capacity to imagine different futures.” Her new album Metomorphosis just came out! They talk about the large overarching theme of the album is exploring representations of femininity from different places around the world through mythological stories and metamorphosis aka shifting forms. Notably, shape-shifting myths that involve the Aurhuaco people from Columba, which involve shapeshifters who shift into non-human beings in nature to gain perspective. Check out her album at Metomorfosis when you get a chance! Nnux: https://www.nnuxmusic.com/ Metamorfosis: https://nnux.bandcamp.com/album/metamorfosis IG: https://www.instagram.com/_nnux/ Photo/Album art by: Martha Maya Spare Notes Substack: https://sparenotes.substack.com/ Jonah Evans: https://jonahinthesnow.com/ Intro: "XXO" from the album Teeth by Magana: https://maganarama.bandcamp.com/album/teeth

SN Mailbag: News, Live Shows, and Obsessions, including Isaac Wood + Phoebe Bridgers , Computerwife, Pewn, CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, Sunday Mourners, Panic Shack, and SML.

Nick and Jonah talk about a little music news, live shows and the bands respective albums, and current music obsessions. Featured artist include SML, CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, Panic Shack, Isaac Wood + Pheobie Bridgers, and Prewn. Jonah Evans: https://jonahinthesnow.com/ Intro Music: "XXO" from the album Teeth by Magana: https://maganarama.bandcamp.com/album/teeth Interlude Music: "Yelling" by The Mo-Odds

Portrait of the Artist: She’s Green - Moss Music and the Road to Guangzhou

In this episode of Portrait of the Artist, Jonah Evans and Nick talk to Zofia Smith and Liam Armstrong of She's Green. She's Green is a Minneapolis, Minestota band who just released a new EP called swallowtail. Jonah and nick talk to Liam and Zofia how they found their into music, their recent headline tour in China, Stevie Wonder, and karaoke machines, community, and nature. She's Green: www.shesgreenband.com IG: www.instagram.com/shes__green Photo Finish Records: https://www.photofinishrecords.com/ KEXP Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvjG6Ke14Is Artists that came up during the interview: Haze Gazer, Trauma Ray, Knifeplay, Prince (Purple Rain), Glixen, Stevie Wonder, and Oh Hey I Love You. (Compressed and Cropped) Photo by: Liam Armstrong Spare Notes Substack: https://sparenotes.substack.com/ Jonah Evans: https://jonahinthesnow.com/ Intro: "XXO" from the album Teeth by Magana: https://maganarama.bandcamp.com/album/teeth

Portrait of the Artist: Christopher Rountree on Julius Eastman's Provocative, Epochal Work, and Wild Up's Interpretation of 'Gay Guerilla'

In this episode of Portrait of the Artist, Jonah Evans and Meredith Hobbs Coons talk to Christopher Rountree, conductor and artistic director of Wild Up. They talk about the June 19th release of Wild Up’s fifth volume of their GRAMMY-winning Julius Eastman compendium, Gay Guerilla. The three of them explore touch on the agency, notation, and radical interpretive freedom of Julius Eastman’s work, as well as his philosophy of power, and how performers navigate collective sound-making. Wild Up: https://www.wildup.org/ Wild Up IG: https://www.instagram.com/wildup/ Christopher Rountree: https://www.wildup.org/people/christopher-rountree/ Wild Up Tiny Desk Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhWkvi8OPkc From Wild Up's website/about: “We’re Wild Up. We’re a band. An experiment in its second decade. We make shows, and records. We make projects and tell stories that live somewhere between new music and theater and performance art and pop. The press says things about us. Our leader has a beard. We embrace the kindness of friends and strangers. We have dogs and gardens and kids. We once made the Himalayas out of cardboard, and sang atop them to the stars. We take photos with talismanic art objects. We’re repped by David Lieberman Artists Representatives.” Photo by: Michael Leviton Jonah Evans: https://jonahinthesnow.com/ Merideth Hobbs Coons: https://www.meredithhobbscoons.com/ Intro/interlude Music: "XXO" from the album Teeth by Magana: https://maganarama.bandcamp.com/album/teeth

SN: Mental Health in Music, Valley Boy on processing trauma and talking about his new album, 'Children of Divorce'

Valley Boy’s new album, Children of Divorce, dropped recently, and Thrin and Jonah get into it with him about being a child of divorce. Do you see a connection between your mental health and body health? Did your parents ever get divorced? What are some ways you process trauma? Thrin Vianale and Jonah Evans have a conversation with Valley Boy (James) that explores these questions. His album Children of Divorce weaves together stirring vignettes from his childhood and the people who shaped it, after he became a child of divorce at age 12. Other topics they get into include validated feelings when you're a child, unprocessed trauma, getting hives, and how the body keeps score. Valley Boy: https://valleyboysucks.com/ Big Hassle: https://www.bighassle.com/valley-boy IG: https://www.instagram.com/valleyboysucks/ tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@valleyboysucks Photo/Album Cover by: Delacey Intro Music: is "XXO" from the album Teeth by Magana: https://maganarama.bandcamp.com/album/teeth

Three Questions with Eric Colville (The Low Stakes)

This segment of Spare Notes is called Three Questions. At least one question is about the artist's current project, and the other two are usually about ideas connected to their artistry overall. We cheated a little bit in this episode but ah, C'est la vie. Jonah Evans was joined by guest host and writerMeredith Hobbs Coons where they interviewed Eric Colville of the band The Low Stakes. The Low Stakes has a new self-titled record out and also a recent single called "End of War." The conversation slipped into the topic of war, the relationship that music and war have, and the woe's of social media. Web: https://lowstakesband.com/about IG: https://www.instagram.com/lowstakesband/ Merideth Hobbs Coons: https://www.meredithhobbscoons.com/ Photo of The Low Stakes by April Piotrowski of Black Mill Photography: https://www.instagram.com/blackmillphoto/ Intro/interlude Music: is "XXO" from the album Teeth by Magana: https://maganarama.bandcamp.com/album/teeth

Portrait of the Artist: Position Nuit

Portrait of the Artist: Position Nuit Portrait of the Artist is the idea is kind of getting to know the band, their identity. What are the things they care about? What drives them? When they started getting into music and or going to shows? What their current project is about? In this Episode I talked to members of Position Nuit, Thomas, Julian, and Dan, a Los Angeles rock n roll band. We get into some of their beginnings, France, Michigan, California. We talk about how they create/coalesce. I wanted to share a short list of some band inspirations of Position Nuit, that came up briefly. A few include the French bands, The Dogs, The Electrocution, Suicide. Others include the John Spencer Blues Explosion, The Birthday Party, Nick Cave, Betty Davis, Iggy Pop, James Brown, and more. If you started a band today, what would your influences be? https://www.instagram.com/position_nuit/ https://linktr.ee/positionnuit Episode Tracks: 1. "The Body" 2. "The Filthiest." Photo: Kourosh Erfanian Artwork: Meg Durozay

1 of 6